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Tendenci is a membership management solution that offers events management, online fundraising, content management and job board modules. It is suitable for associations, educational institutions, healthcare organizations, community foundations and nonprofits of all sizes.

Tendenci’s administrators help in managing data and communicating with constituents, as well as allows to set membership levels to control pricing, track communications and customize benefits for members.

The events management module allows administrators to create and manage events, including ticketing, pricing, and updating speaker bios. Events are automatically added to the online calendar and attendees can register and pay online.

Tendenci’s donation module allows non-profit organizations to manage donor data and online fundraising campaigns. Donors can make payments online and automatically receive emailed confirmation receipts. The solution can also capture donor contact information and website engagement data, which is recorded and used to personalize donor communications. Support is offered via webinars and community forums.

My experience with Tendenci is that they are very security focused first as a company and as a software product. Being an open-source, community driven software, my clients are concerned with their presence on the web and protection of their resources. Being part of an open source community aligns with their values. Freedom is good. But they also trust in the history and focus of a community dedicated to a strong product. We host with Tendenci for security and features. Like other open source solutions, we like knowing that we CAN host ourselves if that is a better option. Our clients haven't needed to fork the software for their own use, because the features are there. Tendenci has greater functionality and newer technology that the competition. Many enterprise level solutions aren't available with the same bundled (it's in there) functionality. We too often see clients get beat up with maintenance of installing additional modules, features and making sure they are secure with proprietary software. WIth Tendenci, our client websites needs are met and safe.
Disclosure: years ago I worked at Tendenci. I still recommend it to my clients if it is the right fit for their goals and we use it to power our own website.

Pros

The rich set of features and modules built into the software. From calendars, to galleries all the way to News publishing and newsletters. It helps build an organization right out of the box.

Cons

It could use a few more integrations with other software, but we have overcome some of that with IFTT technology.

Response from Tendenci of Tendenci

Replied July 2017

Thank you Jonti for continuing to be a part of the Tendenci community. We look forward to many more years of shared client successes with your firm!

December 2014

Matthew from Build It Green

Review Source: Capterra

Ease-of-use

1 of 5

Customer support

1 of 5

December 2014

Don't use Tendenci

We have been Tendenci customers for several years. The platform was always a struggle to use and customize, but in recent months, they have really reached a new low in terms of the service we're getting.
Some time ago, Tendenci promised our nonprofit direct access to their database for third-party login validation for a portal we set up for our constituents. Then one day, without warning, our login integration stops working. It takes over a week to get any kind of explanation -- then they tell us they switched hosting providers.
They tell us we can't access the database directly anymore, but if we set up a SQL Server database on our own, they can send nightly updates to our own hosted server. So we say "fine", and they send us the data, but the problem is, they don't set up scheduling correctly and our data never gets updated after that. We find this out not from them, but from users of our third-party application who can't log in weeks after resetting their passwords.
Lots of back and forth ensues. We're passed around from one person to the next. Nobody at Tendenci can seem to figure out how to correctly set up nightly updates from one MSSQL Server database to another -- even the Director of Technology. They give us one excuse after another. When they can't make it work, they blame it on the permissions we provided them to our server, even though we demonstrate to them time and again that their permissions are sufficient. Months later -- even after contacting Ed Schipul, Tendenci's CEO -- the issue remains unresolved. Ed, for his part, seems to think that if he just sends us his professional bio and talks about some things he spent too much money on recently, we'll have sympathy for his poor beleaguered company and will tolerate these continuing issues.
Now, to top it off, our website is completely offline for the fourth straight day, as the result of a Cyber Monday attack that is now well into Cyber Thursday. Tendenci proved unable to prevent this, but what's 1000x worse is that they're apparently 100% incapable of resolving it. This has been a huge embarrassment to our entire organization. Any nonprofit should have serious reservations about using Tendenci's services.

Response from Tendenci of Tendenci

Replied July 2017

Matthew - We've spoken in the past, and as the leader of the Tendenci community, ultimately the responsibility falls on me. I accept that.
Yet hopefully you saw the disclosure by the former Director of the FBI which just came out 3 years later!
https://www.eschipul.com/2017/06/the-fbi-confirms-ngos-and-associations-are-targets-of-russian-hackers/
Yes, I should have shut down our Windows version entirely before then given we switched to Linux in 2009. But who knew there were undisclosed exploits in Windows Servers being used by two of the world's super powers and not disclosed to Microsoft!?
On a personal level, I know you took the heat internally as an IT analyst during the six day outage back in 2014. I acknowledge and regret it happened. Yet I do not, as hard as this is to say, I do not regret taking any site offline if I am not 100% sure it is secure.
Working in SF and loving California, I appreciate the work that Build It Green does. I wish you the best.

April 2017

Melinda from American Association of Singapore

Review Source: Capterra

Ease-of-use

4 of 5

Value for money

5 of 5

Customer support

5 of 5

Functionality

5 of 5

April 2017

Worked with them to design and build new site and used it daily. Fantastic customer support!

Pros

Functionality ... can do most anything our business needed for less money than similar competitors out there. And the customer support is second to none.

Cons

The software is not intuitive. It isn't always easy to fix issues myself and I often have to email the team. Luckily, the team is incredibly responsive. I started the job with no knowledge of any kind of software and now have a pretty good understanding of formatting etc.

Response from Tendenci of Tendenci

Replied August 2017

Thank you Melinda! It has been rewarding to work with you and your team over the years. AA Singapore is definitely a 'heavy-hitter' when it comes to product utilization. Happy to know we are able to meet the needs of your organization. Thanks for being part of the global Tendenci community!

July 2018

Analisa from DePelchin Children' s Center

Review Source: Capterra

Ease-of-use

5 of 5

Value for money

5 of 5

Customer support

5 of 5

Functionality

5 of 5

July 2018

Tendenci has been great to work with as a nonprofit learning how to take the reins on a website!

Pros

Tendenci makes the software easy to use and the customer service is always top notch! I always know if I am having issues figuring something out they will assist and guide me through the process.

Cons

Sometimes it is not as flexible as I would like but the team is always ready and willing to make adjustments as needed.

Response from Tendenci of Tendenci

Replied July 2018

Thanks Analisa! We love being the technology partner for great organizations like DePelchin. Thank you for being a part of the global Tendenci family!

November 2014

Daniel from DPK Public Relations

Ease-of-use

5 of 5

Customer support

5 of 5

Functionality

5 of 5

November 2014

I have used Tendenci for more than 13 years

Pros

The software has uncommon capabilities to assist with the operation of associations and other nonprofit organizations, such as online events management and promotion, membership management, donation management, online directories, and job boards, among others. I also use it to power the website for my small business and have a number of client websites that are powered by Tendenci. We get quick response to service requests as well.

Cons

They are constantly improving the software and have a lot of things that can distract from a laser focus.

April 2017

Jennifer from DBSA Greater Houston

Review Source: Capterra

Ease-of-use

5 of 5

Value for money

5 of 5

Customer support

4 of 5

Functionality

5 of 5

April 2017

Recommended for Companies with little IT expertise on staff.

We have been using Tendenci for about 6 years and it has really benefited our business. As a smaller non-profit we do not have the budget to have full time IT coders on staff to maintain a website in html code. Tendenci is very user friendly and we have been able to train our staff of clinicians, communication majors, and admins to easily utilize the platform. Since we provide 80 plus support groups in the community, we need the ability to quickly update our website if there are closures due to weather. The ability to update our website often also helps us rank higher in the search engines since we have new content. We would recommend this platform.

Response from Tendenci of Tendenci

Replied August 2017

Thank you Jennifer! We are pleased that Tendenci has provided the platform you need to serve your community. An easy-to-use CMS is vital to keeping content fresh and relevant. Thanks for being part of the Tendenci community!

January 2014

Daniel from DPK Public Relations

Review Source: Capterra

Ease-of-use

5 of 5

Customer support

5 of 5

January 2014

We've used it for more than a decade

I first used Tendenci while I was an officer of a local chapter of the Public Relations Society of America. It was easy to add and edit content and made managing and promoting events very simple with our own online registration that saved the chapter from paying a third party service such as cvent. The easy to use online job board, which enables employers to immediately post jobs and pay online without any administrative support, also generated revenue for the chapter. Over the years, I have encouraged more than a dozen clients to migrate to Tendenci. In fact, I like it so much, Tendenci powers my PR firm's website as well!

Response from Tendenci of Tendenci

Replied July 2017

Thank you for being a great client for so many years. And we look forward to serving your agency and clients for many years to come.
A particular thank you for believing in our vision of going open source and creating an alternative for people to consider when they upgrade to an enterprise scale AMS!

July 2017

Kypros from The Cyprus Whisky Association

Review Source: Capterra

Ease-of-use

4 of 5

Value for money

4 of 5

Customer support

3 of 5

Functionality

4 of 5

July 2017

Does the job very well

Pros

It's Open Source, thus free, it probalby has most of the functionality that someone will need and it's easy to use.

Cons

BEing an Open Source software it has limited support. It's not as popular as WOrdPress so we don't have the mass of developers that could answer very specific questions on forums

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